Andrew Bowen

Andrew J. Bowen is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Concurrently, he advises Greenmantle, an economic and geopolitical advisory firm.

Before joining AEI, Dr. Bowen was a global fellow in the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center and a senior fellow and director of Middle East Studies for the Center for the National Interest. Earlier, he was director of the Levant Program for the Center for the Middle East and the Baker Institute Scholar for the Middle East at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy.

Dr. Bowen has been widely published, including in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Houston Chronicle, The Daily Beast, The National Interest, Al Arabiya, and CNN.com. His book “US-Syrian Relations: Security Cooperation in Regional Conflicts” (Palgrave Macmillan) is expected in the fall of 2017.

He has a Ph.D. in international relations and an M.Sc. in the history of international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom. His bachelor degree in political science is from Rice University.

While Kuwait has been an important partner in the ongoing mediation efforts to end the current Gulf Cooperation Council crisis, its efforts have not produced a viable solution all sides can agree on. US presidential leadership is required if the crisis is to be brought to a resolution.

Conflicting accounts render a clear understanding of what has transpired difficult, but one thing appears certain: Saudi Arabia has launched a full-fledged information campaign aimed at destabilizing Qatar.

While precedent was indeed neglected by placing a senior political advisor on the principals committee, Bannon’s appointment does not guarantee a significant break in tradition — at least at the level of practice.

A singular focus on “America First” at home may succeed in asserting America’s strength and prosperity, and rebalance the fortunes of many, but in doing so, the US may become isolated or irrelevant in the international system if America’s role in the world is not also carefully considered and tended to.

At a meeting in Vienna this December, OPEC and non-OPEC producing states reached a highly publicized agreement to cut oil production. What impact will this deal have on international energy markets and geopolitics in 2017? How will it coexist with President-elect Donald Trump’s new energy policies?